Sending a fax to another county is easy — almost as easy as sending a fax to someone in your own country. The only difference is the phone number that you’ll dial.

When sending a fax from one U.S. city to another, you dial a 1, then the area code, then the seven-digit phone number. When sending a fax from the U.S. to another country, you usually dial 011, then the country code, then a city code (which is like an area code), then the phone number. (The phone number isn’t necessarily seven digits.) Check out the web site www.HowToCall.info, which will give you the specific country and city codes for the place that you’re trying to send a fax to.

Other than figuring out the phone number, faxing internationally is identical to faxing domestically. Fax machines in other countries use the same protocols as ones in the United States, so you should have no difficulty communicating with a foreign fax machine. Older fax machines and noisy overseas phone lines may cause the transmission to take a bit longer than you’re used to, but it should get there.

The first time you send a fax to another country, it might be a good idea to listen in as the fax machine dials. On some fax machines, you can press the “Dial” button to hear the dial tone, and dial the number manually. Listen for the ring and fax tone, then press the Start button to send the fax. You might want to do this the first time you send a fax overseas, just to make sure it’s working as expected.

March 2010 update: FaxZero.com now lets you send international faxes from your computer to any of 117 countries. There’s no sign-up or subscription, just a one-time charge per fax (the amount depends on the country. A 15-page fax to the UK, for instance, costs about $3.60.)